While often closely linked, PR and Marketing concerns are not necessarily the same and therefore one solution won’t fit all. So exactly how can one differentiate these two functions?

For marketers operating on Social Media, their efforts are likely to take place in terms of marketing campaigns. In most instances these will take the form of a #Hashtag or a campaign phrase which are likely to be timely and transitory. This solution is referred to as Conversation Monitoring.

amaSocial chooses to categorise these efforts using marketing principles, in this case, Word of Mouth Marketing. Brand Mentions are classified according to whom the mention originates from: Brand Ambassadors, Brand Advocates and Citizens, of which each lend themselves well to the categorisation of the Social Media Marketing ecosystem.

For Public Relation professionals operating on Social Media, their efforts are likely to take place in terms of ongoing brand communication and content dissemination. In most instances this will take the form of fan pages and @Handles, disseminating brand content on an ongoing basis. This solution is referred to as Brand Monitoring.

amaSocial choose to categorise these efforts by their Brand Association which relates to the terms of its origin and use: Owned, Earned and Chatter, of which each lend themselves well to the categorisation of the Social Media Public Relations ecosystem.

Additionally, there are two more options available: Topic Monitoring allows for a broader search of social media results where clients are not necessarily concerned with a particular company/product/brand but rather an industry or topic as a whole.

Profile Monitoring is ideal for clients concerned with specific social media profiles be it for competitor research, advocate and influencer assessment or keeping an eye on their own social media profiles.

After this initial stage of categorisation, amaSocial goes further to enrich and add value to social media data by providing a standardised set of scheduled reports specific to each client’s requirements. The reports give clients a complete overview and insights into their social media efforts.

An interactive website interface is available for the management and display of results. Within the website there are multiple filters and levels that can be applied to the data allowing for the extrapolation of various themes, results and subsets.

Data sorting bins add another level of functionality for those clients who may require additional content management to extract specific products, campaigns or terms from their social media results.
Finally we allow clients the ability to change and add ambassadors, advocates, activists and influencers. Along with setting and adjusting the performance threshold for each entity so to ensure they meet the performance criteria for their brand.

For more information on amaSocial, click here. To set up a free trial and see how beneficial amaSocial can be, phone +27 11 288-6600 or email [email protected]. Alternatively, visit and like their page on Facebook and follow them on Twitter.